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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESILIENCE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL HEALTH MEASURES IN FIREFIGHTERS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Firefighters suffer from physiological and psychological stressors abnormal to many other work environments. Many agencies require physical fitness tests to assess candidates' abilities to meet the expected occupational requirements. However, this does not include the psychological skills to adapt, overcome, and recover which are components of resilience. Incorporating assessments of resilience into firefighter candidate entrance examinations may allow for a more appropriate implementation of personalized training protocols to reduce psychological risk factors common in this population (i.e., PTSD). Health outcomes, such as blood pressure, body composition, and sleep health, may be related to and possibly indicative of resilience, however, more studies are needed to understand the relationships. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between resilience and health outcomes including blood pressure, body fat percentage, and insomnia severity. METHODS: Forty-one firefighters participated in this cross-sectional study. Age, body fat percentage via bioelectrical impedance analysis (InBody 570), and blood pressure were recorded. Insomnia and resilience were assessed via the insomnia severity index and dispositional resilience 15-item assessment, respectively. Partial correlations controlling for body fat percentage and age were calculated between resilience and the variables systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and insomnia. Analyses were conducted with SPSS version 29 using an alpha level of .05. RESULTS: The relationships between resilience (23.30±3.39) and the variables SBP (126.46±12.21 mmHg) and DBP (79.32±11.27 mmHg) were negligible and not significant [r(34)=.016, p=.927 and r(35)=.050, p=.768, respectively]. The relationship between resilience and insomnia (12.21±6.86) was weak and not significant [r(34)=.252, p=.139]. CONCLUSION: Within this sample of firefighters, the correlations between resilience and blood pressure and between resilience and insomnia were not significant. However, the sample was generally pre-hypertensive, a subthreshold level of insomnia, and a resilience score is lower than the general population. The restricted range of these variables may have limited the ability to detect a linear relationship. Future studies using a larger and more diverse sample will help determine resiliency-related factors.

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